To Die Another Day
by Earendil Eldar
Summary: Whitehall found the most efficient way of dealing with Jack Harkness after the 456 killed all-but-one in the building that day... they charged Jack with the crime and locked him away for good, eventually abandoning him to continual technological torture. With no one to defeat them, the 456 return regularly for a "tribute." When the Doctor finds Jack, something has to be done...
1. Chapter 1

"No…," Jack whispered raggedly. Not again. Not this again. He'd known it was coming. It always did. Every day, three times. The chip they put in him triggered and left him reliving it… left him there again, holding Ianto, begging him not to go. Left him helplessly watching Ianto's gasping tears. "Please no…," Jack begged to no one. And then the pain, wracking his body. He never knew how long that went but it took hours for the lingering pain to subside… just in time for the next neural-ly administered dose.

Every day for the last 30 years. The 20 years before that it had just been solitary confinement and conventional, "hands-on" torture. For some reason, people who found out that he didn't die always wanted to keep trying. They tried for those 20 years. Oh, how they tried! After they put the chip in, they quit trying. They just left him locked up in a cell and forgot him. For the last 30 years, no one had even brought food or water. He died about once a week of dehydration. With the chip in his brain estimated to be operation for the next thousand years, no one saw the need to check on him. His sentence was able to be carried out without the expense of any resource but the sealed cell he was kept in.

Jack hadn't protested or struggled or fought in any way. When asked how he pled to the poisoning death of Ianto Jones, Jack had hollowly, vacantly responded: "guilty."

He was given a life sentence. Though at the time he was the only one who really understood what that meant.

* * *

Jack was still delirious from the last round, lying on the mat that he hadn't moved from in decades. He'd revived from his latest death the day before and so still had enough fluid in his body to cry. He didn't hear the engines. There weren't sounds anymore. Not real ones. The only things he heard now were manufactured in his mind. There was barely a splinter of a memory that came with that sound… of a time when he was really alive… had done good things – none of which he could remember. And Ianto… it was when he had Ianto. For nanosecond, Jack almost remembered what happiness was. But it vanished. It wasn't real. Nothing was. Maybe it never had been.

"What have they done…?" whispered a shocked voice that Jack didn't hear either. "Come on, my friend."

Jack felt someone moving him, but knew it wasn't real.

* * *

Jack woke up as the chip began firing off the midnight memory torture. He felt it all coming back at once and knew not to fight. Fighting only made it worse. Fighting only made Ianto's desperate "I love you" ring louder in his ears. Jack sobbed exhaustedly through the memory waiting for the pain to come. The worst part of that was that he never knew what level of pain was coming. As it had been explained 30 years ago, it was a 10-level system with three randomized stages in each delivery – some doses he got off with two low levels and mid-level… some days all three were at top levels. This time started off easy.

Then it stopped. Just… stopped.

"Torture chip," he heard someone growl heatedly. "Their planet has descended into chaos and _this_ is what they do to the best man they've got! Jack… can you hear me?"

"No," Jack whispered hoarsely. "Nothing to hear. Not real."

"Oh, what _have_ they done…."

"Sentence…," Jack murmured. "Guilty."

"Not you, Jack. Come on, I know you… perhaps too well."

Was this some new bit of the routine activating? Did it conjure someone to talk him into madness along with the memory and pain?

"I killed him," Jack mumbled, reminding whoever the figment was that he was a prisoner found guilty of murder. "Biological attack…."

Oh, White Hall had had all the proof in the world that Captain Jack Harkness was innocent, had in fact died alongside his partner in the same attack. But they needed Jack out of the way as it was… and what better way than to brand him a very dangerous murderer? It only helped keep Downing Street as spotless as possible, and made for an excellent diversion in the daily news.

"Who's attack? Not yours."

"I was there… only ones. I did it. My fault. He shouldn't… shouldn't have been…."

"Does this have something to do with the children, Jack? Is this why some alien race that's being painstakingly _ignored_ by the Shadow Proclamation has been _mining_ Earth's children once a decade for the last 50 years?"

"I don't know," Jack mumbled, beaten. During the first 20 years he sometimes heard news of the outside world. Only bits, and never good. It sounded like the whole world had fallen into bedlam and anarchy. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered.

"Get some rest, Jack. I'll be back with some help."

A glass was set on the table beside him and it was only then that Jack realized he wasn't in a cell. He cautiously took a few sips of water… what could it do? Then he was asleep within minutes.


	2. Chapter 2

Ianto slowly, deliberately, _meditatively_ worked the steamer on the Hub's espresso machine. It always gave him a sad little smile when he remembered trying to show Owen how to handle it. He'd always thought their medic could have benefitted quite a lot from some sort of yoga. Or just anger management in general. Though Ianto guessed he'd had enough patience for the entire team. He'd certainly had to have most days.

"Hello."

Ianto jumped back a mile and instinctively reached to his waist for his gun… which was currently sitting on Jack's desk. Damn it. He'd have to go for bravado and hope the intruder didn't realize he was alone… or, had been.

"How did you get in here?" Ianto demanded, trying to channel Jack's naturally dominant attitude.

"Teleport."

Oh hell… if this was another of Jack's ex-Time Agent ex's, Ianto was reasonably sure he'd go fucking spare. "We have alarms, and shields, and -"

"Jack needs you. Well, I need you to help Jack. In the future. I'm the Doctor, by the way. And you're Mr. Jones. So, I need you to come with me to help Jack… in the future. Now. To help Jack now, in the future. To help…. Doctor… helps…." The look on Ianto's face suggested he was considering snapping the Doctor's neck if he uttered one more word. The Doctor decided to be quiet for a moment and see how Ianto responded.

"Jack is out on a Rift retrieval at this moment. Perhaps I should check with him about needing help?"

"Jack doesn't need help now… I mean, now-Jack doesn't need help now. Future-Jack does… now."

Ianto crossed his arms. "The Doctor, eh? The Doctor with the…." Ianto wiggled his hand and made a cutting motion.

"Yes! Well, no. I mean, yes, same Doctor, but different. Now. Same old Doctor, different look…. It was me, but before the last change. I mean, during the change was when -" the Doctor wiggled his hand and made the same cutting motion. "That's why it grew back."

"Oh god," Ianto sighed. "To save what's left of my increasingly diminishing sanity – you have interrupted coffee, you know that, right? – I'll stick to simple questions. _You_ stick to simple, _one-word_ answers. Got it?"

The Doctor opened his mouth, then closed it quickly. Mr. Jones was nearly as bad as Pond. "Yes," he said very, _very_ carefully.

Ianto waited a tick to be certain there wasn't anything else forthcoming, then smiled. "Well done. Now… Jack needs my help in the future?"

"Yes," the Doctor said, slowly.

"How far in the future?"

"Fifty -" the Doctor started, then snapped his mouth shut.

Ianto gave him a warning look, then raised a brow for him to finish.

"Years."

Jack needed him in 50 years? Well, that was… kinda sweet, Ianto couldn't help thinking. Except that would mean that he wasn't there in 50 years in the first place or the babbling Doctor here wouldn't be calling on him. Maybe not so sweet, then. What, did Jack only send someone else to fetch him whenever there was a crisis? And what did he do then, come running like a well-trained pet? "Why am I not there already?" Ianto asked, then realized that wasn't a one-word-response question. "One short, complete sentence, if you please."

"I gather you're dead by then."

"Oh." Ianto thought he should have known that. Of course he'd be dead. He figured he was already overdrawn on time as far as Torchwood was concerned. "What's happened to Jack? And should I really be going into the future if I'm dead by then? Doesn't that do some timeliney thing?"

The Doctor looked flustered… three questions, none with a good one-word answer. The Doctor took a breath and hoped for the best. "Torture; yes; no."

"Pardon?" Ianto said flatly.

"Alright. Question one, Jack has been imprisoned for 50 years and subjected to a neural torture chip for the last 30 years. Question two, yes, it's alright for you to come with me, I've got him on-board the TARDIS. And three… I believe you mean _timey-wimey_. Let me worry about that."

Ianto didn't say anything for a while. "Are you telling me that something is going to happen in the very near future… within a year… that causes Jack to be imprisoned and tortured?"

"Yes," the Doctor said grimly. "I'm sorry."

"And what is it he's imprisoned for… and by whom?"

"By your government, for killing you. Which, of course, he didn't do. He was charged for it though, and didn't fight."

"And now you're telling me I'm going to die within the year."

"I'm sorry."

"What if it's today?" Ianto wondered out loud. "I was annoyed with Jack when he left. What if the last thing I said to him was, 'Mention it one more time and you're staying here tonight, alone'?"

"Yes, but perhaps that can be avoided if you come with me?"

Ianto looked agitated. Time stuff was weird, he knew that rather well. What if his death was somehow precipitated by going along with the Doctor, he thought. "Give me a minute," Ianto said decisively as he walked by the Doctor and into Jack's office.

He sat down at Jack's desk and took a sheet of paper from Jack's stationery and wrote a brief message before sealing it in an envelope and taking it down to Jack's bunk.

"Alright," Ianto said, emerging. "Let's go."


	3. Chapter 3

"Please be prepared," the Doctor said. "He's not very well."

Ianto frowned. Jack was never unwell. "But that won't last long… he recovers very quickly."

"He does, yes… but, this isn't quite the same. This isn't so much physical."

Ianto stopped and looked at the Doctor seriously. He'd held Jack through more than a few nightmares, and that was only after a year of… what he'd gone through. What would 50 years of it have done… with no one to help?

Ianto nodded to the Doctor, understanding that it wouldn't be 'good.'

The Doctor led Ianto through to a room where Jack… or at least someone that looked mostly like Jack… lie on a big bed. The Doctor was right, Ianto had never seen him so thin and pale. There was no sign of that electricity that always crackled around his Jack. He'd never seen Jack look that… _dead_ – even when he was.

"Jack?" Ianto said quietly, approaching. "You awake?"

Jack's eyes twitched a bit but he didn't open them.

"Jack? Can you hear me?"

"You're not real," Jack murmured, turning his head away.

"I'm real, Jack, I'm here," Ianto said sadly.

"It's a trick…. You can't be, I held you… you said 'Don't forget me.'"

Ianto looked back toward the Doctor, but he'd disappeared.

"I am here, Jack, it's me. I'm from before… and I guess you're from after. But I'm here now. Jack…."

Jack shook his head weakly. "Please don't do this. Please don't give him back… then make me lose him again. Please…."

"I'm _here_, Jack," Ianto said, forcing back his own tears. "Jack… it's been a long time for you, but after what happened with your brother, you told me something. You said if anything ever happened to you…." Ianto leaned in and whispered something.

Jack's eyes opened slowly. "No one else ever…. Yan?"

"Hey, there you are," Ianto said with a relieved smile.

"Is it really you?" Jack asked. Ianto had never heard so much trepidation in Jack's voice. He knew Jack well enough to know Jack wasn't always as sure as he sounded, but he always _sounded_ sure.

"Yeah, it's me," Ianto said, sitting beside Jack and stroking his forehead. "I was in the middle of making coffee when your Doctor appeared. Scared me half to death, popping into our Hub like that."

"You were…. No, you have to get out of there!"

"It's alright, Jack, calm down," Ianto said quietly. "We're not there now."

"You won't survive," Jack muttered.

Ianto took a long breath. How did he respond to that? Was that how he'd died, something happened in the Hub? Part of him didn't really want to know how he'd die, but he had a feeling he needed to know to be able to help Jack.

Ianto took Jack's hand. "Is that how it happens, Jack? How I die?"

Jack looked pained and shook his head. "No… made you leave. You were ok. It was later, in Whitehall."

"I die in Whitehall? Bloody hell. Not another fucking alien PM, is it?"

Jack almost smiled but the muscles needed wouldn't cooperate. He'd forgotten how. There was one thing he hadn't forgotten, though. Jack covered Ianto's hand with his. "I love you, Ianto."

"Bit of a non-sequitur," Ianto mumbled, slightly embarrassed. "But I love you, too."

"When he takes you back… tell me that. I was too scared…."

"Of what?"

"Admitting it to myself… that you'd bolt... losing you."

"That's not going to happen," Ianto said, not sure it was a promise he could keep. He needed to know more about Whitehall, though. He was sure of that. "Tell me what happened, Jack? In Whitehall."

Jack closed his eyes. "No, please…. I thought it'd stopped."

"Oh, Jack," Ianto whispered. "Is this what that 'chip' has been doing to you?"

"You die in my arms every day… all over again. I lose you again and again and again…."

Ianto wondered how many times he'd held Jack as he revived. Jack always said, 'coming back to those blue eyes is worth it.' He couldn't imagine what it would be like to only be there for the deaths, again and again. "You didn't kill me, Jack. The Doctor told me you were charged and didn't fight it. Why?"

"Because it was my fault… You shouldn't have been there…. I should have kept you safe."

"Bet I wouldn't hear that," Ianto said. "Bet I wanted to stand beside you, like always."

"I took you in there! You _shouldn't_ have been there! They killed you… and I begged them not to. I'd have given them anything… anything but you."

Ianto leaned in to hold Jack and calm him. "Who, Jack?" he asked, hating that this was hurting Jack after he'd been through so much.

"456."

"What is that?" Ianto asked, a little worried that Jack was gone round the bend if he was talking in numbers.

"They come for children. It happened before… and they sent me to do it. I didn't want you to know," Jack whispered.

"There's nothing you can't tell me," Ianto said, gently pressing his lips to Jack's. "Wherever you've been, whatever you've done – I love who you are _now_."

"Say that when you go back, Yan… I needed to hear that so bad."

"Ok," Ianto said quietly.

"Can you stay just a little longer?"

Ianto shrugged. "He can do whatever he wants with time, can't he?"

"Maybe."

Ianto kicked off his shoes and wrapped his arms around Jack, lying down beside him.


	4. Chapter 4

"Yan! We're back… I brought 'peace coffee.' Come out, come out…."

Gwen tried not to snicker as she sat down to promptly enter the report of their expedition.

Jack starting jogging up the stairs to his office as usual, but remembered not to slosh the coffee at the last moment. Ianto wasn't in Jack's office and there was a cold cup of coffee on the machine. That couldn't be good. Jack tried to raise Ianto on the comms but couldn't get him. His phone and tracker weren't responding either.

A spike of panic and a wave of dread rushed over Jack. He'd just parked the SUV beside Ianto's Audi, so he couldn't have gone far….

"Gwen! Any word from Ianto?"

"No, Jack. He's been here, right? Did he go out?"

"I can't find him," Jack said, agitatedly running a hand through his hair.

Gwen bit back a response of 'did you check under your desk?' "Not answering his phone? That must've been some barney…."

"Phone's out of range… as are comms and tracker. Where the hell could he go in an hour, without his car?"

"Out of range? Are you sure, Jack?"

"Of course I'm sure," Jack said, sitting down heavily. "Have I finally crossed a line with him?"

"He wouldn't leave without an explanation, Jack."

"I'd feel better if you'd stopped just before 'without'," Jack frowned.

* * *

"Thank you," Jack whispered, "for giving me this. All I wanted… every time I died… just wanted to see you alive again. For just a moment…."

"I'll get this fixed, Jack," Ianto said. "Somehow. I can't believe they did this to you… and they _knew_ you didn't hurt me."

"I don't care about that, Yan. Just stay alive. Stop them if you can, but… if you can't, run. Please run."

Ianto wasn't sure he knew how to run. He'd hidden many times, yes, but running wasn't something Ianto was familiar with.

"What happens to you if we stop it happening… this 456 thing?"

"Not sure," Jack shrugged. "Timeline ends, I think… probably sort of disappear. Yours stays, though… never has to go through this."

Ianto looked saddened to think of Jack ever 'fading out.'

"It's a good thing, Yan. You'd be saving me… him… me. And so many… you'd save the world."

"You _are_ the world to me."

"Tell him, Ianto… please."

"I will, Jack. Just… get some rest, ok? I need a word with Dr. Strange-dress."

Jack nodded hesitantly. "Come back before you go?"

"I promise. I won't be long," Ianto said, kissing Jack's forehead before he left Jack's room.

* * *

"What do we do?" Ianto asked, taking off his suit coat and straightening his tie as he walked into the TARDIS's control room.

"I've been trying to summon the Shadow Proclamation. They seem to be avoiding this issue. Apparently, they don't believe this is considered either an attack or an invasion. They're calling it 'intergalactic commerce,'" the Doctor bit out. "If you can believe that."

"I don't know what this 'Shadow Proclamation' is, but they sound about the same as most politicians. And considering some of the things I've seen, I get the feeling they don't get involved very often at all."

"Yes. That may be."

"So, it seems the most expedient thing is to bypass them and deal with this directly," Ianto said decisively. "Now, how do we do that? What is this alien, what do we know about it? I've never heard of it and all I know is what Jack just told me… that Whitehall is perfectly complicit and has even constructed a sort of sealed tank for it. It can't breathe our air but does breathe air poisonous to humans. It has advanced medical capabilities and engages in biological attacks to prove its strength or superiority or whatever it thinks it's proving. And, Jack said he'd dealt with it before. So… how bad would it be if I were to go back to right where we left – in time, that is – and prevent this in the first place?"

"You're talking about changing history."

"I don't bloody care. It's not history for me; it's the future for me. And I've changed futures before, mostly my own. I'll damn well change them again if it spares him that suffering."

"I can't say what is and isn't a fixed point in this… you may still die, he may still be imprisoned… the alien, whatever it is, may still demand children – and your government may still comply."

"Forewarned is forearmed, Doctor. And I have no problem with a 'strike first' approach - not where Jack's concerned."

"You couldn't use any information from the future – your future, that is."

"It wouldn't be a problem. Like Jack said, it happened before. That would be enough."

"_Could_ be enough," the Doctor said.

"I have to try. I can't let this happen to him."

* * *

"Oh shit."

Jack looked up at Gwen with a frown. That really wasn't what he wanted to hear. It had been hours and there was still no sign of Ianto.

"There was Rift activity, Jack," Gwen said carefully. "Doesn't look quite normal. I'm not sure what it is… not exactly a negative spike, but… it's sort of… sideways."

"Oh no…. No, no, no, no. It didn't take him. Just _tell_ me it didn't take him!"

"I have no idea, Jack," Gwen said apologetically.

Jack desperately refused to contemplate what that damned Rift could do to his… to Ianto. No... it wasn't exactly a negative spike, so there had to be another explanation. Jack just wished he could think of one. If Ianto didn't show up soon, Jack was either going to go mad or going to have to call in a few favors to find him.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hello," Ianto said quietly, walking back into Jack's room. He wondered again how it was possible that Jack could be _so_ thin. The toll of 50 years' continual agony and who knew how many deaths and resurrections…. It brought Ianto to tears when he thought of the things Jack had offered himself for in order to protect others.

"You're going soon," Jack said. He didn't need to ask.

Ianto didn't respond right away. "We're going to stop this," he said eventually, sitting down beside Jack. "You – _then_ – and me."

"This will have been worth it, if you stop them. But please… remember what I said? Don't be a hero, Ianto. I _need_ you alive."

"The minute I get back, I'm telling you everything," Ianto said, holding on to Jack's hand. He gave a short laugh. "Do you know how weird that is to say?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah." Ianto thought for just a moment he saw the tiniest bit of a grin slip through. "Yan…? It _was_ worth it. I saw you again. And I put one thing right, anyway."

Ianto wrapped Jack in a tight hug, hiding his tears against Jack's neck. "I love you, Jack Harkness," Ianto said, going for a deep kiss. "And I'm putting _that_ right once and for all."

"Go on, Yan," Jack said quietly, tracing his thumb over Ianto's lips as if to memorize them.

Ianto leaned in to steal another kiss before hurrying out to the Doctor. It was time to get back to work….

* * *

"Please remember, Mr. Jones, you can't actually use any of the information from ahead of your timeline. It won't have happened yet and though you might understand that… your government never has."

"Believe me, I know that quite well," Ianto said, straightening his sleeves and reaching for his jacket. "I think once I've discussed this with Jack we'll find a way around it."

The Doctor sighed. "He does tend to run from his past. Not that I don't understand…."

"I've started to understand." Ianto sighed and looked back to where he'd left an even more broken Jack, thinking of the few things Jack had told him already of what he'd been through in his many years. "Please take care of him. If we change things… will he…."

"I don't believe 'die' is the right word – even for someone who could die," the Doctor said. "When a timeline is changed like that… it just never happened. Or maybe it diverts to an alternate dimension, but I can't be sure. I try not to do too much timeline-changing and alternate-dimension crossing these days. Makes things even more wibbly-wobbly than they already are…."

'But it's alright enough if I do it,' Ianto thought. He knew Jack idolized the Doctor, but Ianto wasn't always sure why. According to Jack, though, that seemed to be a consistent side-effect of being the next-of-kin to a companion of the Doctor. Perhaps it was jealousy, he considered.

"Right, well… if we could – or _I _could be off, I suppose."

"Of course. Just a few minutes after you left should do it. Must be careful about not doubling back."

"Try to make it minutes, and not months." Ianto hadn't forgotten those months without Jack.

"No, no. This is much more accurate now, really."

* * *

Ianto landed with a thud on the roof of the Millennium Center. In the dark. So much for accuracy. It was a good thing he knew how to get back down from having joined Jack for rooftop sunset viewing a few times.

Finally reaching terra firma, Ianto dusted off and hurried directly down to the quay and the tourist office. He didn't waste any time getting down into the Hub, but he did notice that the daily calendar on the desk hadn't been changed, so there was some hope that it had only been a few hours since he'd left. Then again, if it was left to Jack and Gwen it could have gone months….

* * *

Jack lie awake in his bunk, staring up at the ceiling and trying to tell himself to rest. Ianto had been gone for hours, disappeared without the slightest trace. Jack was worried sick but trying to give Ianto time. Maybe he was just annoyed and needed time to cool off… and Jack didn't want to look ridiculous by marshalling an army to find him when he was just across town. Ianto was smart enough to figure out how to disable his phone and trackers if he really wanted time to himself. Jack just had to trust he'd be back soon….

Jack curled up on his side, wishing he had his arm around his man. Jack shut his eyes and whispered into the darkness, "Please come home, Ianto."

After a few minutes Jack was beginning to think it was useless to attempt sleep and flipped over to grab his phone and try Ianto yet again. Just then Jack heard the unmistakable alarm alerting him that someone was entering the Hub. And there were currently only three people who could do that, himself included.

Jack was out of his bunker in a flash, crossing his office in two strides. "Ianto?" he shouted, not caring how desperate he sounded.

"Jack!" Ianto called back, running up the stairs in a way he ordinarily wouldn't have.

Jack met him at the top of the steps with a crushing hug. "Yan… where were you? I was scared to death! I couldn't even get a signal from your tracker."

Ianto pulled Jack in for a long, hard kiss and held on for a while, reassuring himself that Jack was as well as he'd been that morning. He took Jack's hand and pulled him over to the couch for a sit.

"Before I tell you anything else, I need you to know one thing," Ianto said. Jack, in nothing but shorts and a vest, looked worried. Ianto grasped Jack's shoulders and held Jack's gaze. "I love you, Jack." Ianto took a short breath. "I… I care where you've been and what you've done because I care about _you_. I want to know everything about you, and I want you to know everything about me as well."

Jack looked a little stunned for a long moment, then pulled Ianto into a hug. "I love you, too, Yan," he said quietly. "Can't tell you how many times I've wanted to say it…. I just…."

"You were scared. It's ok, I know I can be a bit cagey."

"Well, you can, but I understand…. What happened, Yan? Did you just need some time? I'm sorry about earlier, I shouldn't have pushed it."

"What happened," Ianto sighed. "Well, I guess you can't think it was mad. You know this stuff better than I do."

"You seem fine," Jack said, touching Ianto to reassure himself. "Was it the Rift? I don't think I've ever seen somebody come back through unscathed, but then you're not an average person either."

"What are you on about?"

"Gwen said there was a strange Rift spike this afternoon, when you were here."

"You don't _know_ what happened?"

Jack shook his head, getting more worried about where Ianto had been and what might have happened.

"You didn't see him?"

"Who?"

"Your Doctor, that's who."

Jack's eyes went wide. "The _Doctor_?"

Ianto sighed. "You thought I'd disappeared… and _didn't_ check the CCTV?"

"Oh. Uh… I guess not."

Ianto rolled his eyes.

"What did the Doctor want you for?" Jack asked, realizing that might have sounded a bit pretentious.

Ianto took a deep breath. "This is why we're sitting down…."


	6. Chapter 6

"He came here to get me because you needed me," Ianto said. "In the future, I mean. In 50 years' time."

"Whoa," Jack said, holding up a hand. "Are you sure I should be hearing this? You're really not supposed to know -"

"I got all that, Jack, but you _do_ need to know this. Apparently, things… get bad. And we need to change it."

"What kind of bad are we talking?" Jack asked tentatively. He knew Ianto had certainly seen his share of 'bad,' but Jack was also pretty sure he'd seen many times worse.

"Decimation. Literally."

"I can't think of anything interested in decimation. Daleks want everything gone, including themselves half the time… and -"

"They're called 456, Jack."

Jack froze. "Are you sure?"

"Yep."

"Why were you needed?" Jack asked quietly.

"Because of what happens to you," Ianto said. "After I die," he added anxiously.

"In 50 years?" Jack asked, trying for hope.

"No, Jack. What happens to you goes on for 50 years." This was harder than Ianto thought it would be. He'd imagined he could be very matter-of-fact about it so they could work on stopping it, but now he was back within his timeline, he worried they wouldn't be able to change the course of events.

Jack looked at Ianto for a long while. He was obviously upset and trying to hide it, but Jack couldn't quite tell why. If Ianto knew about what he'd done years ago, the last time the 456 appeared, Jack wasn't sure if there was anything he could say in his own defense. Of all the innumerable unsavoury things he'd done in his various lives, that was the one he hoped to keep most deeply hidden. And yet, Ianto was here with him… and had said he loved him.

"Alright," Jack said, sighing. "What happens?"

When he was talking with Jack – pale, thin, lifeless Jack – Ianto began to understand that the things his Jack kept hidden were out of fear, and so was more of Jack's loneliness than he'd even admit to himself. Jack needed so badly for someone to accept him and not treat him as an alien freak – and stuck in Torchwood for a hundred years was certainly no place to find that.

Ianto reached for Jack's hand. "These aliens come back, soon," he started. "And deal with Whitehall for some reason. They want children."

"Yeah. They did before," Jack said, voice flat. "Same number? It was a dozen then."

"No, Jack. They wanted… or will want, I suppose, 10%."

Jack looked up. "Ten percent of what?"

"Of the population," Ianto said regretfully.

"That's impossible," Jack shook his head.

"Well, not for good old Whitehall, apparently. They worked out some lie about inoculations."

Jack shut his eyes tightly.

"And they want us dead – Whitehall. Apparently because you know the truth. Well, you can't, can you? But it's these aliens…. Inside Thames House, they let out some virus, and everyone there is killed. Whitehall charges you for my… death." Ianto swallowed hard. "You plead guilty – and they _know_ that's a damned lie – but these fucking aliens get what they want and Whitehall locks you up…. All sorts of experiments, torture…. You… you were so thin, Jack."

Jack pulled Ianto into his arms as Ianto's voice slipped on a sob. "Can't lose you," Jack murmured against Ianto's hair. "It's gonna be ok, I promise. I won't let that happen." Jack continued to hold Ianto until they both felt a little calmer.

He'd beg the Doctor to take Ianto with him for a while if he had to, Jack thought; he couldn't let anyone or anything hurt his gorgeous 'coffee boy,' even if it meant sending Ianto off-world until things were dealt with. Ianto wouldn't like that one bit, he'd been getting more and more determined to stand beside Jack as their (relatively) unspoken feelings had grown exponentially since Jack lost his brother again. But Jack wouldn't accept putting anyone else at risk anymore, _especially_ not Ianto.

"Jack…," Ianto said quietly after a while, "I don't care what happens to me. I just want you to know I love you no matter what."

"Well, I care what happens to you. And I _can't_ lose you. No damn wonder I took 50 years of torture – it couldn't have been worse than being without you."

"Jack, stop. You always blame yourself. Well, stop. It isn't you, it's bloody Torchwood. I know I'm going to die, eventually. I doubt you can stop that indefinitely. It's you being hurt I can't stand. So, we have to find a way to stop that happening and deal with these damned aliens at the same time."

"Stubborn, Jones," Jack said with a watery smile.

"Like a mule, Harkness," Ianto nodded. "How late did he land me here? I'll put on some coffee."

Whatever plan they came up with, Jack was already fast at work on an alternate, emergency plan for keeping Ianto safe no matter what. Timelock was the first thing he thought of, but there would have to be other options as well. He knew how quickly things tended to escalate when government got involved in the wrong dealings.

"Ianto? Not coffee just yet…. Can we just…?"

Ianto saw the raw vulnerability in Jack's eyes and decided they could leave planning until they'd both had some rest. "Yeah, of course we can."


	7. Chapter 7

That "can we just…" that Jack had intended to be "just" resting with one another quickly turned into desperate groping and passionate lovemaking – both of them needing the assurance that the other was alright.

Later in the night, Jack looked at Ianto curled up asleep beside him. How many times had Jack heard that no one is supposed to know their own future? And how many times, especially as a young Time Agent, had he supposed that was just a moralizing conformity imposed on time itself - something that had neither moral nor conformity. Now Jack knew for a fact that knowing the future meant he'd take it into his own hands to change it. He wasn't letting Torchwood take anything else from him, and he'd do whatever he had to to make sure it didn't get its cold, steely claws into Ianto Jones any more than it already had.

Kissing Ianto's forehead, Jack slipped out of his bunk and silently climbed up to the office. He picked up his phone from the desk and walked away so he wouldn't be heard if Ianto woke up.

Being the middle of the night, Jack had to content himself with leaving a message:

"I promise I'm not calling you away from your honeymoon, so don't delete this message," Jack said to Martha's answerphone. "I just need you to make a call. You know to who. Or is that 'whom?' I never got that, ask Yan when he wakes up. Anyway. Just need you to call him for me, ok? I need a favor from him. Figure he owes me about a billion. Thanks. And congrats again."

Jack ended the call and made to slip the phone in his pocket before remembering he was wandering the Hub naked. Could be amusing if anyone walked in, he thought, not that anyone was likely to turn up in the middle of the night – the alarms would alert him if Gwen for some reason came in five hours early.

Jack wandered back toward the office, wondering if he wanted to go back to bed with Ianto or start problem-solving. He knew which his practical partner would suggest and that was exactly why Jack needed to be back in bed. He paused to glance up at the pterodactyl perch where Myfawny was watching Jack like a hawk. The dinosaur adored Ianto but only seemed to tolerate Jack when there was food involved.

"I'll keep him safe, trust me on that," he said.

Myfawny tilted her pointy head and gave a soft squawk as if to say, "You better had!"

Jack quietly made his way back to bed where Ianto grunted and shifted to press himself against Jack again without really waking.

"I'm here," Jack whispered. "Back to sleep, my heart."

Ianto lie still and heavy against him as Jack played with his messy hair. Of everything he'd ever been, done, and seen, nothing compared to this simple, quiet moment, stroking the hair of someone who made him ache in a way he never had; like he hadn't even known what was missing until he'd found it.

"I hope you don't hate me for this," Jack whispered, "but I'd rather have that than have something happen to you, because there are a few things I don't think I can protect you from… and this is one."

It was a couple hours before Ianto began to wake again, shifting against Jack and snuggling closer. Jack held him close, stroking Ianto's hair. "Love you, Ianto," Jack murmured.

"Nice words to wake up to," Ianto said sleepily.

"Yeah, we should make that a thing," Jack said.

"Right. Jack…," Ianto said sitting up, "last night…. Did that happen?"

"Yeah," Jack said apologetically.

Ianto sighed, hoping that had been a particularly weird and unpleasant dream. "Then we've got work to do."

"Yeah."

"Jack?" Ianto said, looking over at Jack's nightstand.

"Yeah?"

"You didn't even read my note?"

"Huh? What note?"

Ianto reached over and plucked the envelope from where he'd set it on the nightstand… so Jack would be sure to find it.

"Oh. Uh… I guess not."

"Well, doesn't matter now. You already know," Ianto said, ready to tear the envelope in two.

Jack quickly pulled it from Ianto's hands. "Oh, no way. Mine."

Ianto conceded with a little smile. "As I was saying… work to do."

That was when the sound of a TARDIS materializing could be heard throughout the Hub.

"I mighta called in a little help," Jack admitted, getting up and dressing quickly.

"Hello, Jack!" the Doctor said, sitting at Jack's desk with his feet up.

"Doctor. New look. Again. And bow tie. Interesting choice."

"Bow ties are cool," the Doctor informed Jack, tugging smartly on his tie.

Jack paused. "I once heard you shouldn't trust people with bow ties, because a cravat is meant to point down to accentuate the genitals, not out to accentuate the ears."

"Why are we discussing genitals and ears?" Ianto asked, emerging from Jack's bunker.

"See… Ianto wears a four-in-hand with a dimpled -"

"Jack? Work to do? _Not_ fashion critique," Ianto interrupted.

The Doctor barely suppressed a smirk at Ianto's deft handling of the Captain.

"Alright," Jack acceded. "Let's move this to the conference room. Can we have that coffee now, Yan?"

"On it," Ianto said, already halfway across the room. He stopped and turned. "How do you take yours Doctor? Cream, sugar, anchovies?"

"Anchovies? Why do we have those?" Jack asked.

"For Myfawny. She likes them in her coffee. But you'd know that if you paid attention to what she likes."

"What's a Myfawny?" the Doctor asked.

"His pet pterodactyl," Jack said. "She'll be up before long; sleeps like a cat."

"You have a pet pterodactyl? How brilliant!" the Doctor said enthusiastically.

"She's actually a pteranodon, but Jack's got 'pterodactyl' in his head and I can't seem to dislodge it. That's probably another reason she doesn't especially like you," he said to Jack. "And, again, gentlemen… work to do." Ianto headed over to the coffee room.

"Doctor, I need your help," Jack said as soon as Ianto was out of earshot.

"That's why I'm here, Jack," the Doctor said, sitting upright. "To help."

"I know, and I appreciate the advanced warning about what's coming up. But I can handle that – on my own." Jack sighed. "I need you to get Ianto out of here. I know what those monsters are capable of and I don't know of any way to protect him – other than getting him away from Earth entirely. He'd be safe with you."

"First… have the two of you discussed this?"

"The 456 thing? Yeah."

"No… the 'him leaving' thing."

"Well, not exactly. I don't think he'll like it. But I need to keep him safe, more than anything."

"Second… I can't, Jack."

"Doctor, I'm not asking for anything big, here. Just take him with you until I can make sure the 456 are outta here."

"Jack, I can't. Not, 'I won't.' I _can't_. I gather he told you what happens after his death?"

"Yeah, and I'm not worried about that. I've dealt with torture – as you might remember. I'm just telling you, I can't -"

"I needed him to help you avoid that outcome, Jack," the Doctor carried on as if Jack hadn't said anything. "I saw what happened to you and what happens to Earth because you weren't able to stop it. That can be changed, Jack. But not everything can be changed." The Doctor hesitated uncomfortably. "His dying is a fixed point, Jack. I can't do a thing to stop it happening. Even if he came with me… and you know he wouldn't do that willingly… it would still happen, somehow, at the same time. I'm sorry, Jack."

Jack closed his eyes. He knew a thing or two about 'fixed points.' "How do we know it's a fixed point?"

"Jack." The hardness in Ianto's voice over by the door made Jack flinch. "Work to do. And you're wasting time discussing something that isn't going to happen. Now, let's problem solve what we've got."

"It's a fixed point because you told him, isn't it?" Jack hissed at the Doctor.

"I had to tell him, Jack. He had to know how to help you," the Doctor said apologetically.

"_I_ don't matter because _I_ can't die!" Jack roared, storming out of his office and toward the conference room.

Ianto silently handed Jack a mug of coffee and pointed to his chair at the end of the table. Jack sat and looked at Ianto, ready to say a million things and not sure which to say first.

Ianto beat him to it, leaning on the conference table and staring Jack down. "Let's get one thing perfectly clear around here. You matter. You matter to me. And you matter to the world because you can do things I can't. You can stop this – I can't. You know as well as I do that I've been living on borrowed time for years. It was bound to happen sooner than later. It can't be changed, Jack, so we just have to get on with it."


	8. Chapter 8

"How am I supposed to do that?" Jack asked angrily. His anger wasn't with Ianto for telling it like it was, but with the Universe for throwing more pain at him, for taking someone he loved away, yet again.

"The same way you've done for decades," Ianto said matter-of-factly. "With a stiff upper lip."

"Well, I can't. Because this is different. Because I've been a monumental jerk and wasted so much precious time with you. Because time is the one _fucking_ thing I can't get rid of… and the only thing you haven't got. So whatever this is… maybe it's time I just say no, not me, not my problem, find somebody else to save your planet."

"You heard him, Jack. I die either way. Are you so damned selfish, do you care about me so little that you're willing to waste my death – I only get the one, remember – just so you can be miserable about losing me? There are millions -"

"There's only one of _you_!" Jack shouted, jumping up and slamming his hands down on the table, mirroring Ianto's posture. "And don't you _dare_ ever think I care little about you! You are everything to me."

"Then act like the soldier you dress like. Do what you have to do, and do it in my name."

The Doctor hesitantly peered around the corner into the conference room. "I'm very sorry," he said quietly. "I never meant for this to turn into an argument between you two. I only wanted to help."

"Hold it," Ianto called to him when he would have turned away. "Come on, sit. Your coffee's gone cold. I can pop it in the microwave or fix more."

The Doctor took out his screwdriver and zapped the mug, reheating it instantly. He did the same for the other two mugs sat on the conference table.

Jack sat back down at his end of the table, arms crossed and looking like he was planning to be in a pout for quite a long while. He said nothing, contributed nothing while Ianto and the Doctor discussed a plan to preempt Whitehall's unilateral contact with the aliens and to work on getting a few organizations such as UNIT on their side early.

"Assuming we can get ahead of this thing," Ianto said, "we might stand a chance at being able to deal with the aliens. We're not going to manage that if we've got to deal with Whitehall as well. Doctor, can you try getting on to the Shadow Proclamation ahead of this and see if we can get some back-up? We've got to have some kind of friendly help out there, or at least somebody else that doesn't fancy these aliens stealing children."

"I'll see what I can do. My fear when I learned of this 50 years ahead of now was that the Shadow Proclamation had gone corrupt and was looking the other way on purpose. Hopefully, that hasn't happened yet."

Jack stood up before the Doctor and headed toward the door, still without a word.

"Jack?" Ianto said.

Jack didn't turn, he just half turned his head when he said tersely, "You still die," and kept going, walking out of the Hub.

Ianto sighed. "I'm not sure how much we're really sparing him from, Doctor."

"I've always known Jack to be a man who fights through those dark moments."

"So have I, but it's always for someone else. Despite all his vanity, when the chips are down he's never in it for himself."

"You're right," the Doctor said sadly, standing up to head back down to the TARDIS. "You two are quite a match."

Ianto took a deep breath and headed out of the Hub, picking up Jack's tracking signal on his phone. Jack usually disabled it when he _really_ wanted to be alone. Ianto wasn't a bit surprised to find Jack stood on a rooftop overlooking Cardiff Bay.

"Don't jump, ok?" Ianto said, letting Jack know he was there.

Jack huffed. "Yeah. Wouldn't matter."

"Would to me," Ianto said, taking a few steps closer. "It's very hard to see you hurt, even if I know you'll be back, good as new, before long."

"Good as new is one thing I'm not," Jack grumbled.

"None of us are," Ianto said, reaching for Jack's shoulder.

Jack turned and pulled him into a crushing hug. "I don't want to lose you," Jack said desperately.

"It was always a high risk."

"I know… and I've fought even thinking about it for so long."

"The last thing I want is you to be hurt, Jack," Ianto said, holding on to him. "When I saw you, in the future… I barely recognized you. You weren't all flash and sparkle anymore. You were thin and pale… you didn't even look so dead when you'd spent days in the morgue. And maybe it wasn't the torture that did that to you after all."

"It's already breaking me, Yan. I've lost so many people, but the thought of losing you… I've never been so afraid. I know things would never have been exactly normal for us, but… if we could've just been together."

"I know, Jack."

"How are you taking this so… practically?" Jack asked. "I should be the one comforting _you_."

"I don't _want_ to die, but… I don't know, maybe I'm sort of inured to it. I've known I was overdue for quite some time. Tell you one thing, though. Having been with you, even if we haven't had long, makes it easier. You gave me something I never thought I'd have, even with Lisa. And that kind of makes it not so bad."

Jack buried his face against Ianto's neck. Fixed point or no fixed point, he couldn't accept losing this man so soon.


	9. Chapter 9

"Alert, Jack. Looks like an active hitchhiker. St. Helen's."

They'd only been back down in the Hub a few minutes when the alert came through. Jack was tempted to tell Ianto to ignore it. The last thing he wanted to deal with right then was another damned alien.

"Jack…," Ianto said, getting no response about the hitchhiker. "It's what we do, our _job_. I'll go myself, but that whole 'concerned neighbors' thing works better as a couple."

"Hate that word," Jack muttered, grabbing his coat and stalking back toward the door.

Ianto took a moment to follow. He recognized this, Jack shutting him out. At least it was no mystery what Jack was trying to keep him from. With a long sigh, Ianto hurried after Jack and caught up to him in the car park. Jack sat behind the wheel, his face wet with tears, and it broke Ianto's heart.

Hearing a tap on the window beside him, Jack took a second to glance up and open the door. Jack got out and pulled Ianto close. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I meant that I hate knowing that loving someone will always end in loss for me. And I'm sorry I'm being selfish. And I don't know how I'm going to get my mind around doing a hitchhiker extraction right now. And I just wish I could go back to the day I met you and keep you far, far away from this damned place."

"I wouldn't have wanted that, Jack. I finally found a place to belong. I told you, Jack… _you_ made life right for me. So, please, stop blaming yourself. None of this is your fault."

Until he found a way to stop it happening, Jack thought, it most assuredly was his fault. Jack racked his mind for a solution. What could alter a fixed point…? There was one thing he could think of, but without his vortex manipulator able to… manipulate vortices…. But maybe he had a bigger vortex manipulator at hand.

"Ianto, call Gwen. Tell her to do the hitchhiker," Jack said, pulling out of Ianto's arms and running back toward the Hub.

Ianto, again, took a long breath and went back after Jack, ringing Gwen on the way.

Jack hurried down the stairs, opening the cog door as he went. He ran up to the TARDIS sat on the bridge of his Hub and pounded on the door.

"Jack, calm down," the Doctor said, opening the door. "I know you're hurting -"

Jack shoved passed him and ran down a corridor in the TARDIS.

It took about five seconds for the Doctor to realize what Jack was doing. "Oh, Jack, no! You can't, you _know_ what will happen!" the Doctor shouted, running after Jack.

Ianto came through the cog door just in time to hear the Doctor calling after Jack from inside the police box. Ianto shook his head and ran toward the sound of "Don't do it, Jack!"

"Jack!" Ianto shouted, as much to find his way in the convoluted time-and-space ship as to hopefully stop Jack from doing whatever the Doctor was warning him from.

Jack was right around the next turn and caught Ianto in his arms. "I have to do this," he whispered desperately.

"Do what, Jack?" Ianto said tiredly. "Whatever it is -"

"Paradox, Yan. If I do that - create a paradox - I give you a chance," Jack said.

The thought rolled through Ianto's mind for half a minute. "No."

"It's a chance, Yan -"

"I said no!" Ianto shouted, stunning Jack with the forcefulness in his tone. "It's my life you're talking about and you do not get to decide. I know what a paradox is, Jack. I know what a paradox does because I lived through the bloodbath one spawned. And you will not use me to create another one. And I will do whatever I have to do to stop it."

"What has ever stopped me?" Jack said.

"I didn't say I'd stop _you_," Ianto said grimly.

Horror flickered in Jack's eyes for the briefest moment as he caught Ianto's implication. "You wouldn't."

"I said I'd do what I have to. We're not just talking about 10 percent of the world's children or the human species now. We're talking about destabilizing literally everything. Everything you've worked for and fought against… you're willing to _become_ the enemy? Well, I'm willing to stop that."

"So, what? Either I let something else take you from me, or you do it yourself?"

"Those are the options. And while sometimes I wonder if I know anything about you at all… I'm fairly sure I know which you'll pick." After a moment, Ianto turned, hoping the corridors of the TARDIS didn't switch around like in _The Labyrinth_ or _Harry Potter_. "We need to go to London. I'm organizing that now. I recommend Gwen stays here to hold down the Rift until you're back."

"Oh, go on," Jack shouted after him. "Walk away! Leave me like everybody else has ever done!"

"Jack…," the Doctor said carefully.

"Yeah, you left, too. Let's not forget that," Jack spat before stalking off.

Emerging from the TARDIS, Jack saw Ianto going about the Hub gathering up a few essential items like a laptop, handguns and clips, miscellaneous tech equipment.

"I'm not walking away," Ianto said under his breath as he packed. "I've never walked away. It isn't my decision either, Jack. If it was up to me, I wouldn't ever leave you."

"'Ever' is a long time, and not something you want."

"Nevertheless, if I had it to give, I would." Ianto glanced around, running a hand through his hair. "Is there anything else we need?"

Jack just shook his head and followed Ianto back out to the SUV. Ianto held his hand out for the keys, and Jack handed them over, going around to the passenger side. Jack apathetically listened to one side of Ianto's conversation with Gwen as they drove, letting her know that she was going to be solo for a couple days as something had come up in London that he and Jack needed to see to. Jack didn't notice anything unusual when Ianto grumbled about kids playing up in the crossing, stopping traffic for a few moments.

Jack was silent, staring out the window for nearly 45 minutes till they got to the Severn Crossing. "We don't have to do this," Jack tried quietly.

"Jack…."

"I don't want you to die so far from your home."

"Did you ever think I wasn't meant to die in Wales?" Ianto said calmly. "I know I should have died at Canary Wharf, but I didn't. I got another chance. And now, time is correcting itself. Fixed point."

Jack was quiet a while longer as Ianto drove.

"I would have married you," Jack said eventually. "If you'd have had me. We could have had a home of our own. Maybe even kids."

"I'm not sure the agencies would consider 'alien catchers' as good candidates for -"

"We wouldn't have had to adopt. I've been pregnant before."

"Kinda thought you'd made that up."

"I never made anything up. Never had to. Ianto… for more than a hundred years I've hoped I'd one day meet someone who wouldn't be put off, who wouldn't be _hurt_ that I can't die and barely age. Who wouldn't see a freak of nature but would see through my masks. _Decades_ I waited for that… and now I don't even have _days_ to show you what you mean to me. I've been too much of a coward to show you all along – afraid you weren't ready for it, afraid to let myself be vulnerable…."

"What makes you think I didn't see it? You may be clever at hiding things, but I'm pretty clever, too; even if I do say so myself."

"Oh, you're clever. The cleverest I've ever met," Jack said, reaching across to hold Ianto's hand.

* * *

Gwen hurried through the cog door, eager to get rid of the 'hitchhiker' thing she had no plans of carrying around that morning. And she really wanted to have a look into what was up with the kids that halted in their tracks all at once. She had a suspicion it had something to do with whatever Jack and Ianto were suddenly driving to London for. But Ianto had been short on details enough to make her wonder if they weren't leaving her stuck working alone while they went off to 'play house' or whatever they were calling it.

It was only after she was halfway up the stairs that she realized there was currently an old police box sitting in the middle of the Hub.

"Worse than students, those two," Gwen mumbled. After putting the alien thing into cold storage for Jack to poke around with whenever he got back, Gwen headed up to the break room to make herself a pot of coffee. She didn't have to, though, as she was met with a smiling Ianto, offering her a fresh cup.

"Ok… I thought you two were rushing off to London? And why is their suddenly a police box down there? You know, the two of you are -"

"Gwen… I need a word."


	10. Chapter 10

"We should have had holidays," Jack said as Ianto continued along the M4 toward Reading.

Part of Ianto wanted to ask Jack to stop, get his head back in the game, and quit mourning before anybody even died. But Ianto realized Jack was entitled to feel the anticipated loss and he was glad he could be there for at least some of what Jack would go through.

"What, those… um, three dinners we had without weevil interference weren't holidays to you?"

"Yeah, they were," Jack laughed without much humour in it. "I wish we'd gotten away from it once in a while, though. I was never especially bothered about that kind of thing before, but you and me should have."

"You and I," Ianto said, unable to help it.

"I am so gonna miss that."

"You think people could tell? When we were out together…."

"Hot guy in a smart suit at a romantic table for two with a 51st century, two-time Rear-of-the-Year winner? Yeah, might have been obvious. Are you ok with that?"

Ianto was quiet for a moment. "I'm more than ok with it. I'm glad of it. Maybe even a bit proud."

"You should be proud, of so much. You know what I'm going to miss the most?"

"My tie around your wrists?"

Jack took a sharp breath. "Ok, close second. Very close."

Ianto gave a shy smile that was no longer accompanied by the level blush it once was. "Alright, then, what?"

"Your laugh. The spontaneous one that would come on you so quick you didn't have a chance to stifle it. The one you'd get from watching utterly stupid television too late at night."

Ianto rolled his eyes, but knew Jack meant it. "You know what I missed when you were gone?"

"What?" Jack asked, hoping the answer wasn't something that would rip his heart out a little more.

"When you'd sing to me after I'd had a nightmare. You've a beautiful voice, and I bet not many people know that."

"You're right, not many. Thank you."

Ianto reached over for Jack's hand, careful not to take his eyes from the road. He was planning to die with his boots (well, oxfords) on – not behind the wheel.

"What's the plan, Captain?" Ianto asked.

"I never have a plan," Jack huffed. "Just charge in, guns blazin'. Always worked before."

"You're planning to shoot Greene and his advisors? Oh, yeah, that's definitely how I'm dying."

"Actually, I was planning to go in coat billowing with the PM. Guns blazin' is for the alien."

* * *

"Alright, Ianto… where's Jack?"

Ianto wanted to roll his eyes at how suspicious Gwen sounded. "On his way to London."

"What for? I _thought_ you were going with him. Is there some reason you needed Jack gone? Is this to do with why you were out of range yesterday?"

Now Ianto did roll his eyes and sigh. "Yes, actually. I'm taking over the Hub and giving it over to Torchwood's top enemy, the Doctor. See? He's already at Jack's desk. That's his spaceship parked down there. And now if we're done mucking about… you really do need to know what's going on."

Ianto sat down to hopefully put Gwen a bit more at ease. By the look on her face, though she sat as well, it didn't look like it helped.

"Jack is on his way to London… _with_ me. Right now. They should be across into England by now."

"Then who the hell are you?"

"I'm me. I'm Ianto… _and_ this is where it gets a bit complicated. I think the Doctor might explain this better. Or he'll explain and I'll translate, more like."

"Hello, I'm the Doctor," said the smiling man with a bow-tie in the doorway.

"Doctor? Doctor what?"

The Doctor looked a bit thrown for a half-moment.

"It's just 'The Doctor,' apparently," Ianto said. "Like Prince, or Cher."

"Oh, right, you're straight as a pig's tail," Gwen muttered.

Ianto barely held back a glare.

"Anyway… as I was saying, Doctor. And you're Ms. Cooper… or Mrs. Williams, I suppose. Is that hyphenated? What was I meant to be explaining again?"

"Why there's another of me currently heading for London," Ianto prompted.

"Oh, right, yes. Well, I don't really see what's so complicated about it. It's a simple upload and copy mechanism. Perfectly simple. Only, best not to do it much because, well… timelines, wibbly-wobbly… that sort of thing, of course. Is that last cup of coffee going spare, Mr. Jones?" the Doctor said hopefully.

"Help yourself," Ianto said. "It might help if I start at the beginning," he said to Gwen. "While you and Jack were out yesterday, he popped in here to get me to go with him and help Jack. Something goes wrong in the rather near future and Jack, in that timeline, ends up imprisoned and sentenced to a lifetime of torture."

"But we can't -"

"Of course we can't. But what went wrong, for Jack, was me not making it out of there. He gave up. Well, as I was learning about this and finding out how I was to die… it kind of created a fixed point."

"Fixed point? What's a fixed point?"

"A fixed point is a fact, Ms… um, Mrs…. Yes," the Doctor chimed in. "Fixed point. Can't be changed. Not ever. Even if you try to change it, the universe, essentially, issues a correction and the fixed point event occurs anyway. So, Mr. Jones, for example, would meet an untimely end even where he kept away from London. _Something_ would occur. Jack, himself, is a fixed point, a fact within the universe. He _is_. Always. It's sort of the opposite of Mr. Jones' problem. Mr. Jones must die and so will. Jack must never not be… and so isn't. And if you do somehow fundamentally alter a fixed point… it can essentially unravel the fabric of space and time and that's the whole point of having Time Lords. Or, I suppose, Time Lord. It's my job, most days… some days. Never know when weekends are though. Wibbly-wobbly."

"This is all a bit depressing, if informative. I had really hoped not to lose any more colleagues in the near future. Are you sure we should be listening to him, Ianto? He sounds like a madman."

"Oh, he is a madman, that's definite."

"And I still don't understand how there are two of you. Did that hitchhiker thing give off some kind of psychotropic stuff and make me hallucinate all this? Is Rhys going to find me on the sofa gibbering all this nonsense?"

"Hitchhikers don't have any known psychotropic properties, so… that wouldn't cause gibbering. There are two of me because the Doctor basically uploaded me into the TARDIS – don't ask how that works – and made a copy. Perfect copy. Everything the same: DNA, experiences, thoughts, the whole lot. I stayed back in the TARDIS with future-Jack and doppel-Ianto explained this stuff to now-Jack and is going to London with him… where he'll die. But I'll be fine. So, the universe gets its 'fixed' death out of me… but Jack gets me back. And the only problem is that he can't know until it's already happened."

Gwen wrapped her hands a little tighter around her mug. "So… you found a way to safely rewrite history… or the future, for someone you love."

Ianto gave a small smile and nodded.

"That makes it all worth it. All the hitchhikers and weevils and pyscho-ex-boyfriends… that you were able to use this to make something right. And since you're getting a second chance, are you _finally_ gonna tell him? You've no idea what it does to him, wondering. He's always saying to me, 'I can't tell him how I feel because this stuff is still too new for him.' Which I think is an absolute load of bollocks, but he's petrified he'll scare you off -"

"I know. And I have told him. Well, other-me has, but same thing. And I'll tell him again as soon as he's back, and every day for the rest of my life."

"But in the meantime, he still has to lose you."

"Yeah. Temporarily."

"And what do we do until then? Just sit here like a couple of idle dossers?"

"Of course not. Support and back-up, as usual. Only thing is, I can't do any of the communicating from here and you can't give even the slightest hint that there's anyone here but yourself. Right?"

"Alright. Where do we start?"

"I'd say we ought to get on to Martha first thing, but she's on honeymoon and I don't much like the chance of Oduya listening to us lot of sheepshaggers. We might have had a better time with Mace, but he's been banished to Canada, so I think we're stuck starting with Whitehall. Specifically John Frobisher. I'll get you the contact information and you see if you can reach his office. Tell him it's about the children. Did you see any of that coming in, incidentally?"

"All stopped dead? Yep, I did. So that is something to do with it?"

"Everything to do with it." Ianto took a deep breath. "You're gonna need a brief on this too, but we can't use any of the information from this point forward in the timeline. We need to keep it all in line. Doctor? Anything from the Shadow Proclamation yet?"

"No. I'm going to keep trying, though."

"Right. Do that. And thanks for tidying Jack's desk. Haven't had time myself with all this." Ianto shared a glance with Gwen. "You know, we've got a couple openings, Doctor."

"Thank you, but no. I'm not nearly that reliable," the Doctor said before going back down to the TARDIS. He wasn't sure who he was more daunted by the prospect of working with, Mr. Jones or Ms. Cooper. Jack was clearly a much braver man than he ever received credit for being.

"Doctor?" Ianto called after him. "Will there be any indication…? Jack avoiding… _that_ outcome?"

"I believe so."

"Would you, sort of… let me know? I'd like to…."

"Of course," the Doctor smiled sadly, stepping into the box and closing the door behind him.


	11. Chapter 11

"There's an old warehouse around here that was used by T1. We can make base there. Not the most comfortable accommodations, but it'll do," Ianto said, navigating through the streets of London.

It took Jack a few seconds to respond. All of his responses were delayed and Ianto didn't like it, even if he did understand.

"No," Jack said eventually. "Go toward the Embankment."

"Do you think it's the best idea to walk right in to Whitehall? I think we need to do some background work first. And, no, I'm not just delaying the inevitable. We need to be prepared -"

"I'm not talking about Whitehall. The Embankment. Specifically, Savoy Place."

"Savoy Place? Don't tell me you want afternoon tea -"

"That's where we're staying. I'm… I'm not having you spend your last days in a warehouse."

"Warehouse is a little less traceable," Ianto said quietly.

"They're not gonna trace me, I know a lot of tricks. You should probably ditch your phone, and don't use any chip-and-pin."

"Jack…," Ianto sighed. Jack looked over at him with such a look of regret that Ianto couldn't stand it. Ianto reached over to hold Jack's hand and just said, "I love you, Jack."

* * *

"Whoa. That is seriously creepy. You seeing this, Gwen?"

"Yep. Really, really creepy. Even for school kids."

"Is it some kind of…. It looks like it's everywhere. And all at once – look at this – coming in from Europe, Africa, west Asia, China…. This must be what Jack meant about them 'talking.' This is where we're going to need to lock it down, fast. It's public now. Damnit. I was hoping we were a little more ahead of it."

"Ok, Ianto, I need some direction, here. What comes next? You… uh, _other_-you, and Jack will have gotten to London by now."

"Yeah, give them a ring and see if they've heard about the talking. This will be new to Jack because the aliens didn't communicate through the kids last time he went through this. And, Gwen?"

"Yeah, I know, you're not here, speak in singular first-person…."

"Not what I was going to say, but no, I'm not here. I was going to say do _not_ give him shit about what he had to do last time. It's been eating him for 40 years, carrying that around. He doesn't need grief from us."

"I wouldn't do that," Gwen protested.

Ianto just gave her 'the look' and went back to the computer. "I'm checking for any kind of anomaly or inconsistency in the talking. So far it looks all identical. Not even regional differences, which makes sense if these aliens have only had contact with us here and not, say, Russia."

"Well, there's one less thing to worry about."

"Yeah… somehow I don't think so. But if there's just something, some little difference, we can exploit that."

"How about a big difference?" Gwen said. "Look at this."

"Ok. That's definitely not a child. Get me whatever info you can on him before ringing Jack. Don't bother with my mobile, Jack's clever enough to have ditched it so they can't be tracked. Maybe this guy went through it last time this happened and survived somehow?"

"He's at a mental hospital… maybe he's never developed beyond childhood?"

"I don't think that's how this works," Ianto said tightly.

"Well, he's in Sussex. About an hour from Jack and… _other_-Ianto. Name's Timothy White," Gwen said, sending the information to Ianto's screens.

"Nope, it's not. Or wasn't. Try Clement McDonald – and he was from right where Jack said he'd be: Harbour Heights. That's it, that's the link. They need him, as quickly as possible. He'll be the key to this. Get Jack, now. Give him this information and tell him they need to collect him from the hospital."

* * *

"Guess if I've got to go, this makes up for it," Ianto said, looking around the impossibly posh riverfront suite.

"Not to me," Jack mumbled and went to stand behind Ianto at the window overlooking the Thames. "I told them we just got married," he said, wrapping his arms around Ianto. "I thought… at least while we're not arguing with Whitehall and trying to get rid of an alien… we could just… pretend to be remotely normal."

Ianto turned around in Jack's arms and held him. "Gotta make the most of it," he said from Jack's shoulder.

Jack had just pulled him into a needy kiss when Jack's mobile rang and someone knocked at the suite's front door.

Ianto sighed, shaking his head and stepping toward the door.

"Wait! You take the phone, it'll be Gwen. I'll get the door."

Jack came back a moment later with a bottle of champagne in an ice-urn and a huge bouquet of roses. "Honeymoon package," Jack grinned, though his eyes were suspiciously watery.

"Keep it on ice for the moment. Apparently, Gwen's found a major link. One of the kids from '65 got away. He's sectioned now, though, at a hospital in Sussex. We need to pick him up. About an hour each way."

Jack nodded, setting the champagne and roses on a table and picking up the keys to the SUV.

Ianto hesitated when Jack stepped to the door. "Jack… what if we had the hospital do the transport? It'll be faster getting him here, and… that's time we could have. Alone."

"I'm all for that. What do we tell them, though?"

Ianto thought for a minute. "We'll need Gwen to ring the hospital and have this guy released from care." Ianto sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I could falsify the papers much better…. Perhaps I should do it here and send them over myself," he said, opening the laptop they'd brought. "May be able to get into his records at this place and make it a lot easier on us. Anyway, release into police care – Gwen can sort that, probably through Davidson. Send him up to… say, Camden, and it'll be an easy pick-up."

"Yeah. Let's go with that," Jack said, though Ianto was obviously going with it already. "Just make sure Gwen gets us updates so we know when he'll be here. And… maybe we can work in dinner?"

"We have to eat, don't we?"

Jack swiveled Ianto's chair away from the laptop. "A nice dinner. You and me. No laptop."

"I promise, Jack. This shouldn't take any more than half an hour once I'm into their system."

Jack sighed and let Ianto get back to what he was doing. He knew it was important, but at the moment he didn't care about the guy in the hospital. He wanted to be with Ianto on a pretend honeymoon, trying to forget they'd never have a real one.

Jack sat sulking in the sitting room of the ridiculously plush suite for the best part of an hour. The desk staff had been sure he was joking about wanting a suite with no reservations – until he pulled a psychic paper out of his coat pocket, then it was all, "Yes, sir! Straight away, sir!" He half-wondered what that Time Agent's old standby told them, not that it mattered.

He almost jumped when Ianto came over and put his hand on Jack's shoulder.

"I'm free for the rest of the day, Captain."

Jack looked up to see Ianto wearing nothing but his greatcoat.

"And, to be honest, I've always been under the impression that there's only one thing a honeymoon is for – and it doesn't involve hacking records or fighting aliens."

"You're right," Jack said hoarsely, his mouth suddenly gone dry.

"And I still think this looks better on you," Ianto said, slipping out of the coat and leaving it on the arm of the sofa as he walked back toward the bedroom.


End file.
